Texas church shooting: At least 20 dead as gunman opens fire on congregation in small town

Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackit told local media a man walked into a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs and started shooting.Wilson County Commissioner Paul Pheil told San Antonio Express News there were "around 20-plus [people dead], I'm not sure".Fellow Wilson County Commissioner Albert Gamez said he had been told more than 20 people were killed and more than 20 were wounded, but said those figures have not been confirmed.

Another official who wished to remain anonymous told the news outlet there were at least 25 dead and 15 wounded.

Local police said the gunman has been "taken down".

Emergency services converged on the church in the small town, about 50 kilometres south-east of San Antonio, and helicopters were seen taking victims to hospitals.

Megan Posey, a spokeswoman for Connally Memorial Medical Centre, which is in Floresville and about 16 kilometres from the church, said "multiple" victims were being treated for gunshot wounds.

She declined to give a specific number but said it was less than a dozen.

Television stations KSAT and KENS reported a large police presence at the church.

iUS President Donald Trump tweeted from Japan, saying: "May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan."

My prayers and tears with those who lost loved ones. Children were among those killed.

So far no motive given, but the shooter "is reported to have been discharged from the US Air Force in 2014 following a court-martial for assaulting his wife and child." So he seems to have had a history of domestic violence and military training.

Texas Church Shooting Followed ‘Domestic Situation’ With Gunman

The
gunman accused of committing the deadliest mass shooting in modern
Texas history sent threatening texts to his mother-in-law before
targeting the church where she sometimes worshiped, authorities said on Monday.

Devin Kelley, 26, opened fire on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs on Sunday, killing 26 people and wounded 20 others. He was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“It’s
a senseless crime, but we can tell you that there was a domestic
situation going on within this family,” said Freeman Martin, the
regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety. “He had
expressed anger toward his mother-in-law.”

As information has emerged about Kelley’s background, he appears to share a common trait with many American mass shooters: a history of domestic violence.

In
2012, Kelley, who served at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, was
court-martialed for assault on his spouse and assault on a child. “He
assaulted his stepson severely enough that he fractured his skull, and
he also assaulted his wife,” Don Christensen, a former chief prosecutor
for the Air Force, told the New York Times. “He pled to intentionally doing it.”

That
year, his then-wife filed for divorce, according to court records. He
was sentenced to 12 months behind bars, and received a bad conduct
discharge. In 2014 he was remarried, according to the Times.

His
conviction should have barred him from legally purchasing firearms,
according to military law experts who spoke with HuffPost. Under the
Lautenberg amendment, individuals who are convicted of a domestic
violence misdemeanor are prohibited from owning or buying guns.

“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” Gary Kasparov

The Texas Shooter’s Cruelty Went Far Beyond What We Previously Thought

That 26-year-old Devin Kelley had received a discharge from the Air
Force for bad conduct resulting from him being physically abusive to his
wife and her child is already known. However, according to New York Times, the extent of the abuse is, specifically to that of his stepson, is incredibly heinous.

“He assaulted his stepson severely enough that he
fractured his skull, and he also assaulted his wife,” said Don
Christensen, a retired colonel who was the chief prosecutor for the Air
Force. “He pled to intentionally doing it.”

Keep in mind that Kelley’s stepson was an infant at the time, and he
intentionally fractured that baby’s skull. It takes a real kind of
messed up person to go so far as to crack an infant’s head, but then
again, it takes a real kind of messed up person to shoot up a church
filled with innocent people.

“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” Gary Kasparov

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